Julie Tomlin’s theatre news: Sick; Trainspotting; Pleasance; Faction

• DRAWING on frontline experience working in the NHS, Sick is Shey Hargreaves’ latest show about the impact of four years of cuts. Writer and performer Hargreaves, who worked as a receptionist in a busy emergency unit for four years, explores the effects of austerity on patients, their families and friends and those working in the NHS in a funny and moving show that’s on at the King’s Head from March 24-25.More details on 020 7226 8561.

• ARGUABLY darker than Danny Boyle’s 1996 film based on Irvine Welsh’s cult novel, Harry Gibson’s stage adaptation of Trainspotting is being performed at the Tower Theatre from March 21-30. The story of Mark Renton and his friends in the 80s heroin scene of Leith in Edinburgh is directed by James McKendrick.For more details call 020 7353 5700.

• A BI-LINGUAL production that explores belonging, identity and language, Y Brain/Kargalarfollows writer Meltem Arikan’s re-location to Wales. Written by Arikan, with Welsh-language parts by Sharon Morgan, this new play from performing and audio-visual art works company Be Aware is the story, told in both Turkish and Welsh, of an encounter between her Turkish-speaking, repressed self and her Welsh-speaking, nature-loving self. You can see it at the Pleasance Theatre for two nights only, March 19-20. The Pleasance is also showcasing Fiddlestick’s outrageous audience-directed musical comedy The Cabinet of Madame Fanny Du Thé, a show that introduces audiences to the eccentric 18th-century explorer Madame Fanny, and invites them to take their pick from her cabinet of curiosities.For more details call 020 7609 1800.

• THERE’S still time to see Faction, an ensemble with a focus on reinventing classics for the modern day, revive their production of Patricia Highsmith’s psychological thriller The Talented Mr Ripley at Vault festival – on until March 17. For more details visit https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/the-talented-mr-ripley/